“Brooksville property tax rate to stay at 6.069” plus 3 more |
- Brooksville property tax rate to stay at 6.069
- Quinn: Tax plan should include property tax relief
- The Farmer File: Our property value tax pickle
- Veterans property tax will be on ballot
| Brooksville property tax rate to stay at 6.069 Posted: 25 Aug 2010 05:06 PM PDT Times staff BROOKSVILLE City's property tax rate to stay at 6.069 The Brooksville City Council agreed Tuesday night that the current property tax rate of 6.069 mills should remain the same for the coming year. One mill is equivalent to $1 of tax for each $1,000 of assessed, nonexempt real property. The decision to keep the existing rate came after the council decided in June to adopt a fire assessment on all residential and commercial properties within the city limits, including those that are exempt from property taxes. Under the plan, the city will collect about $700,000 toward the Fire Department's $1.7 million budget. The council still must hold public hearings on the proposed 2010-11 budget, which takes effect on Oct. 1. BROOKSVILLE Remaining dog taken from shelter returned The last of four dogs stolen last week from the Humane Society of the Nature Coast shelter was returned to the shelter late Tuesday. According to Humane Society executive director Joanne Schoch, the 3-month-old Lab-pit bull mix named Moe was found by a man Friday near California Street, south of Brooksville. The man was unaware the dog had been stolen until a neighbor urged him to call the shelter. Schoch said that the man adored the pup so much that he decided to adopt the dog, which he has since named Dave. Hernando County sheriff's deputies arrested Juan Claudio, 26, and Jose Navarro, 20, over the weekend in connection with the thefts. Both were charged with commercial theft. [Last modified: Aug 25, 2010 08:26 PM]
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Quinn: Tax plan should include property tax relief Posted: 26 Aug 2010 08:11 AM PDT On Thursday August 26, 2010, 11:11 am EDT BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (AP) -- Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn says the income tax increase he's pushing should also require schools to lower local property taxes. The Chicago Democrat wants to raise income taxes to 4 percent, up from 3 percent now. He wants the added money set aside for schools. Quinn repeatedly said Wednesday that his plan would lead to lower property taxes. Pressed on that, Quinn said he would seek legislation requiring schools to cut local taxes in order to get more state aid. This appears to be the first time Quinn has discussed this requirement. Republican challenger Bill Brady said the idea doesn't seem to make sense. He called it "smoke and mirrors." Calls for a "tax swap" aren't new, but most work by giving individual taxpayers a credit -- not by requiring schools to cut taxes. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| The Farmer File: Our property value tax pickle Posted: 26 Aug 2010 06:52 AM PDT When I got my property tax bill recently I thought it was a joke. Was I on "Candid Camera" or was I one of Ashton Kutcher's victims on the TV show "Punk'd?" No such luck. In the midst of a historic real estate recession, market values on some homes, including mine, went down, but the "taxable value" went up. The "values" are key here, not the tax "rates," some of which are going up. I don't like that, but at least I get it. No, the puzzle is about how taxable values can go up while market values go down. Assuming other property owners here might also be confused and concerned, I turned to the Collier County Property Appraiser's office for some enlightenment and got it. Dennis Staruch, one of the county appraisers, directed me to a section of Florida Statute 193.155. It's complicated, but Mr. Staruch made it easier to understand, if not to accept. "What has happened is, although your market value has come down, because your assessment for tax purposes is still far lower than that, it is required just like mine, to go up by a percentage change that was established to be 2.7 percent this year," he said. "It wasn't quite the 3 percent, the maximum the law allows for homesteaded properties. That's called the recapture clause. So the legislators in their wisdom have figured out a way to increase property taxes even though your property went down. It's unbelievable." In other words, the state law requires appraisers to set the taxable value based on the nationwide inflation rate up to the 3 percent cap for homesteaded property. Again, appraiser Dennis Staruch: "The bottom line is that when it comes to valuations, the computations at the end of the procedure have to follow the guidelines of the U.S. Labor Department Bureau of Statistics on the inflation rate. They must take that into consideration and even if your or my house is worth less today, we're going to pay more if the inflation rate went up as it did." It did? Really? Yes. Staruch said the government-measured inflation rate was 2.7 percent, in contrast to one-tenth of 1 percent the previous year. "We're all stunned, we really are," he said. "The affect is, if in the appraisers' opinion your home's market value is X and your assessment is below that, you automatically will have a tax increase up to the 3 percent cap depending on the inflation rate." There is a petition process by which homeowners can protest the appraisers' valuations of our residences. It involves petitioning the county before the deadline — 5 p.m. on September 10. The petitions and other information are available on the website www.collierappraiser.com. Good luck. Meantime, homesteaders aren't the only property owners here whose real estate is affected by the state Legislature. A controversial proposed referendum has been swirling through the system that would create a tax break for non-homesteaded people. Here's the deal, if it survives a court challenge and gets on the ballot and gets voter approval. Right now, the assessed value of non-homestead property cannot increase more than 10 percent a year. Amendment Three would reduce the limit to 5 percent. The state Supreme Court could rule any minute now on whether the amendment should be on the November 2nd ballot. - - - Don Farmer is a former ABC News correspondent and bureau chief and CNN news anchor. He can be reached at don@donfarmer.com. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Veterans property tax will be on ballot Posted: 26 Aug 2010 08:49 AM PDT Published: Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 10:44 a.m. HOUMA — Voters will decide in November whether to add a new property tax to their annual bills. The Terrebonne Parish Council voted 8-1 Wednesday to call an election for a half-mill property tax that would support the Veterans' Memorial District. The district's board met Tuesday and unanimously voted to hold the election, said its chairman, Ken Royston. Council approval was also required to get the tax request on the ballot. The half-mill tax would collect $360,000 annually for the district, which oversees the Regional Military Museum on Barrow Street and Veterans Park on La. 311 near St. Charles Street. In Louisiana, property taxes are calculated using a mill, or one-tenth of a cent. Since the first $75,000 of a home's value is exempt from taxes, the proposed tax would cost $1.25 a year for the owner of a $100,000 home, $8.75 a year for a $250,000 house and $21.25 a year for a $500,000 home. No one from the public spoke about tax or putting it on the ballot. But Councilman Kevin Voisin, who voted against the measure, said now is not the time for new taxes because of the shaky economy, the Gulf oil spill and the resulting deepwater-drilling ban. After the meeting, Voisin said there are other ways to finance the museum and park, such as folding it into the public library system or using other existing taxes. He said the request is unlikely to get the needed voter support. "I'm 100 percent for veterans. I'm 100 percent for this museum," Voisin said. "I will fight for funds a different way." The tax money would pay for a bulkhead on Little Bayou Black adjacent to the park, expand the museum and hire full-time staff. The memorial district, formed in 2008 by state and local governments, largely uses private donations to maintain the park and museum. Volunteers, mostly local veterans, man the museum and give tours. Veterans who sought to establish the district said from the outset that seeking a tax could be an option. Sept. 17 is the deadline to submit items for inclusion on the Nov. 2 ballot. "I don't know that there's any good time to ask people to pay new taxes," Royston said, adding that the amount is relatively small. "We hope it's successful on the ballot on Nov. 2. We can be, if we can convince the voters that we will be responsible with the money." The district has to have its budget approved annually by the council. In Lafourche, property owners already pay a tax benefitting that parish's Veterans Memorial District, which oversees the memorial along La. 3235 in Galliano. That tax, in 2008 and 2009, collected more than $300,000, or a little less than proposed Terrebonne tax, according to reports from the Daily Comet. Staff Writer Naomi King can be reached at 857-2209 or naomi.king@houmatoday.com. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
![[Get Copyright Permissions]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vetN5YSIpV875oU6vY98uH59f_LFCN7RSqA_WIgN2QeaDjArJFN_WYEyt349BC0Bg1GekxYRdGf4Xsp7sNicYumHyRBGdPveQ_4Go_eFYYRu08=s0-d){kind=small}
Click here for reuse options!
| You are subscribed to email updates from Yahoo! News Search Results for property tax To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 comments:
Post a Comment